Losing weight with laxatives: good or bad idea?

When deciding to go on a diet , it can be tempting to start losing weight with laxatives. By thus evacuating your stools, you have the hope of losing all your superfluous kilos quickly without making any real effort. However, the laxative is considered a drug. Its use is not to be taken lightly .

Why use laxatives?

Laxative is a drug used to fight constipation. Its main effect is to stimulate intestinal transit to cause more frequent bowel movements. Obviously, losing weight with laxatives works quite well. This is a fairly common practice since 10% of women admit to having already used laxatives to lose weight.

However, you should be aware that by using this drug you will lose weight, but not necessarily the weight you were initially aiming for. When you decide to go on a diet , it is undoubtedly to lose fat. The laxative does not remove the fat. Losing weight with laxatives will only cause you to lose water and food that hasn’t had time to be digested .

Where can we find it?

All pharmacies offer over-the-counter laxatives. Prices vary depending on the number of laxatives, the brand and the pharmacy. You can therefore make the decision to lose weight with laxatives without consulting a doctor first . Certain foods such as artichokes and prunes naturally have this effect on your body.

Losing weight with laxatives: is it safe?

By using laxatives, you mostly lose water. However, it is not for nothing if you are advised to drink plenty when you have gastro. The body constantly needs to be hydrated . If you lose water, you put it in danger by dehydrating it. Thus, you can quickly have health problems like cramps, extreme fatigue, headaches and infections. You have to be aware of the fact that in the long term, dehydration can be fatal.

The problem is also regaining all the weight lost after stopping laxatives. In effect, you lose water and not fat. So you will not see any physical effects on your body. On the contrary, your body will seek to store water as soon as you resume a normal life.

Losing weight with laxatives disrupts your entire digestive system. It becomes fragile, can become irritated and bacteria can find refuge there. In any case, your body will seek to make you understand that it is going badly. Studies have shown that digestive tumors can appear in people who have used this method for a long time .

The laxative is a drug that can become an addiction. Your body gets used to its effect and will always ask for more. The more you take, the more you lose and the more dissatisfied you are. This is how the process of anorexia is triggered.

So how do you lose weight healthily?

Forget the idea of ​​losing weight with laxatives right away. The best way to lose weight is to adopt a healthy diet by eating everything, but in reasonable quantities. Likewise, you should drink at least one and a half liters of water a day and practice regular physical activity .